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Voltage regulator on Xbee SIP Adapter — Parallax Forums

Voltage regulator on Xbee SIP Adapter

konnichiwakonnichiwa Posts: 1
edited 2011-06-17 07:37 in General Discussion
I'm totally new to electronics, so forgive me if this is some obviously elementary question. I have purchased an XBee adapter which has a 5 to 3.3V voltage regulator for voltage input. Does this mean I can provide voltage anywhere between 3.3 to 5V? Or must I provide a 5V voltage? (e.g. Can I provide a 4.5V voltage to the adapter with three 1.5V battery?

The data sheet for the XBee adapter can be found here:
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/rf/32402-XBeeSIPadapter-v1.1.pdf

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2011-06-17 07:37
    There's a 3.3V regulator on the adapter that provides power for the xBee module. There are also other parts on the adapter, in particular the 74LVC244A buffer which takes in logic signals up to 5V and translates them to 3.3V logic signals for the xBee module. The 74LVC244A runs off the 3.3V regulated supply.

    Voltage regulators have a minimum voltage drop (called the "drop out" voltage). The regulator used on this adapter has a drop out voltage of around 0.5V. That means that you can use power supply voltages down to 3.8V and still get a regulated 3.3V output. So, yes, you could use 3 x 1.5V AA batteries to run it.
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